Those who are oppressed, humiliated and defenceless grow in the certainty that they must entrust themselves to God, filled with faith and expectation. In this complete surrender, a sense of one’s own dignity blossoms anew; they recognise sisters and brothers with whom to share their dreams, and hope quietly becomes reality. Taking refuge in God means finding true and lasting protection — the kind that the powerful cannot guarantee and prefer to deny. The poor, however, are more able than others to recognise what is essential, because they live on the essentials. More like Christ than anyone else, they recognise God as their refuge even when circumstances seem to contradict this, and they are filled with hope for his justice, which will not be long in coming.